Xiaomi slashes prices of five handsets in India

Just a day after research firm International Data Corporation announced Xiaomi as the market leader in the third quarter of 2018 in India, the Chinese smartphone maker has permanently cut the prices of five of its handsets.

"We are delighted to share that we have seen a reduction in component costs of some of our best-selling phones. We were announced as the number one smartphone vendor in India for the fifth consecutive quarter, as per IDC Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. As a celebration of that, Xiaomi is announcing price cut for five smartphones," the company said in a statement.

The 4GB+64GB variants of Redmi Note 5 Pro, Mi A2 and Redmi Y2 are now available for Rs 13,999, Rs 15,999 and Rs 11, 999, respectively while the prices of 6GB+128GB variants of Redmi Note 5 Pro and Mi A2 have dropped to Rs 15,999 and Rs 18,999, respectively.

Xiaomi shipped 11.7 million units and became the top brand in the Indian market with 27.3 per cent share in the third quarter this year, said IDC.

This is the first time when the smartphone market is at par with the feature phone market, each contributing 50 per cent to the overall mobile phone market.

Xiaomi also led the Indian wearables market with a 46 per cent share registering 31 per cent quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) growth in the second quarter of 2018, IDC has said.